Winnie Mashaba to grace inaugural gospel awards
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday July 6, 2018 12:51
The awards ceremony is slated for August 18 at the newly built Ba Isago Convention Hall in Gaborone. The awards, which are oraganised by gospel legends Phempheretlhe Bafana Pheto and Joel Keitumele, are aimed at recognising excellence within the gospel industry.
According to Keitumele, Mashaba has been invited to hand over some awards to the winners including the Best Song award. “Winnie Mashaba’s achievements and success as a gospel artist is well known. We have invited her to hand over the awards to the winners on the night with the hope that it will inspire many of them,” he said. The multi-award-winning South African gospel musician Mashaba who landed a TV presenter role on Dumisa in 2017 is household name in Southern Africa, more especially in Botswana. She currently has 16 albums under her belt, after dropping her first album titled Exodus in 2000.
Meanwhile, Keitumele said after the awards and nominees were launched last week, voting has started. He stated that winners of the awards would not just walk home with trophies because they have managed to get sponsorship for all the categories. The sponsors include Ba Isago, VIB mobile, Be Mobile, Orange, Mascom, Rhythmic Harmony, IIP, which will be assisting with the production, and BIFM, which will be awarding investment opportunities to the winners.
Keitumele said that the idea to have the gospel awards is to recognise other gospel music styles that are not included in the BOMU awards categories. “Gospel is so broad. With the BOMU awards, there is Best contemporary, traditional and Clap and Tap. We want to broaden it and include other gospel styles to benefit all gospel singers,” he said. “In terms of the awards, the winners are partly voted for by the public but there are also judges. We were looking at how artists package their products and the presentation. We also listen to how the song has been mixed and all those other things that make a song good quality,” he added. Some of the nominees include Tshepo Lesole, Keba, Joe-T and Ghavorr.
Entrance fee is P200 (Standard) and P300 (VIP) tickets.